Royal Dutch Shell Plc is looking to acquire a major stake in Hyderabad-based rooftop solar firm Fourth Partner Energy, according to a report in Mint.
The firm is looking to buy a "significant stake" in the solar company. Shell's interest comes amid the Centre's plans to set up 175 gigawatt (GW) of clean energy capacity by 2022. Out of the 175 GW, 40GW is to come from rooftop solar projects.
Shell runs a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Hazira on the west coast of India. It is also the operator of the Panna-Mukta-Tapti field, which is a joint venture with state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). Shell is also among the few foreign oil companies to have a fuel retail licence in India.
Shell has been looking at the clean energy space in India for quite some time now.
Fourth Partner Energy's Senior Manager Aditya Gupta denied the reports while Shell also didn't acknowledge the report.
The Indian government is conducting an anti-dumping investigation on solar equipment imports from China, Taiwan and Malaysia and is planning to levy 70 percent provisional safeguard duty on imported solar panels and modules from China and Malaysia. However, a final decision on the matter is yet to be taken.
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